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Body Snatchers; White House Near Deal on Proposal Banning Torture

Aired December 15, 2005 - 13:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PHILLIPS: That was the atrium, wasn't it, Roger? There's a little holiday/Christmas tree in the atrium here at CNN. We're monitoring a live event that's taking place at the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and also the joint chiefs of staff, Peter Pace, actually interacting at a townhall meeting there at the Pentagon with employees at the Pentagon. We're monitoring it, and we'll dip into it when it gets exciting.
Meanwhile, CNN is investigating a possible real-life body- snatching case that's playing out in New York. We're look into allegations that some funeral homes may be selling off body parts, and without the families of the dead even knowing anything about it.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Michael Bruno was a good old New York City cab driver with an opinion about everything, even his own death.

VITO BRUNO, ALLEGED VICTIM'S SON: My father had requested to be cremated.

FEYERICK: And today, in this box, lie Michael Bruno's remains. At least that's what Vito used to think. Now he's not so sure.

BRUNO: I don't know what this is. Don't know what's in here at all.

FEYERICK: That's because Michael Bruno may have unwillingly become the victim of a scandal that's making ghoulish headlines. It's sending shock waves through a billion dollar industry that until now has remained out of the spotlight, the business of human body parts. By one estimate, a single body chopped into pieces can be worth up to $150,000. The donor never sees a penny, but it seems everyone else does, including the funeral home, which can charge a thousand dollars per body for storage and transportation.

TODD R. OLSON, PH.D., ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLAGE OF MEDICINE: We are dealing simply with an open market where the supply and the demand is the only limiting factor on how much people are going to be able to profit.

FEYERICK: New York City investigators believe Michael Bruno is one of hundreds, if not more, whose body parts were taken without permission and passed off as legitimate donations to companies which make money processing the bodies and providing them to the medical community.

Now, the Brooklyn District Attorney is leading a massive investigation, which could implicate as many as six New York City funeral homes and a company that procures organs for hospitals and research. At the center of the case, two men, Dr. Michael Mastromarino of Bio Medical Tissue Services in New Jersey, and his partner, embalmer Joseph Mowselli (ph). Both are under investigation for allegedly carving up bodies without consent.

BRUNO: Just beyond anything anybody could ever comprehend.

FEYERICK: Vito Bruno says he learned of the alleged theft when a New York City detective showed up at his door with a donation consent form Bruno had supposedly signed.

BRUNO: It was not my signature, so they forged my name.

FEYERICK: Also changed, according to Bruno, was his father's cause of death, listed as hearth disease, instead of kidney cancer.

BRUNO: I was really angry and really concerned. You know, concerned that these body parts went into other people, people got diseased body parts.

FEYERICK: In Denver, Colorado, some 1,800 miles away, an apparent whistle blower.

DR. MICHAEL BAUER, BONFILS BLOOD CENTER: We have had a recent case where we've traced it back and there were over 90 different patients who were benefiting.

FEYERICK: Michael Bauer tests donated tissue for disease. He says he discovered phone numbers on donor records sent by Mastromarino's company were bogus.

BAUER: What was going through my mind was, Dr. Mastromarino had not received permission to recover these tissues.

FEYERICK: It was then, Bauer says, that he called the New Jersey doctor.

BAUER: His answer to me was, I wasn't calling the families, the funeral homes were.

MARIO GALLUCCI, DR MATROMARINO'S ATTORNEY: Dr. Bauer is being less than forthcoming with you and the public.

FEYERICK: Mario Gallucci is the attorney for Dr. Mastromarino.

What is being alleged is serious. That is, signatures were forged, medical records were doctored. Can you see, not as it relates to your client, how this would be shocking to many people?

GALLUCCI: Without a doubt. I'm a human. I would be very upset if to find out that my loved one, who I didn't consent to, had tissue taken from them without my consent. Of course I'd be upset.

FEYERICK: But your client had nothing to do with it?

GALLUCCI: Nothing at all.

FEYERICK: For more than a year, tissue from Mastromarino's company was distributed to doctors and hospitals throughout the U.S. and Canada. So far, there have been no reports of illnesses stemming from those tissues.

Sanford Rubenstein is Bruno's attorney in a lawsuit against the New Jersey doctor, his partner and the funeral home which handled his father's cremation.

SANFORD RUBENSTEIN, VITO BRUNO'S ATTORNEY: This is a double outrage. It's an outrage not just to the families who without consent saw their loved ones body parts used in others, but it's an outrage to those people who received tissues.

FEYERICK: Federal law prohibits the sale of any human body part, but it does allow for go-betweens to be reimbursed for reasonable expenses. The problem is, there are no limits as to what's considered reasonable and no paper trail to track the movement and there's little regulation or oversight.

OLSON: There are more laws that regulate shipping ahead of lettuce into the state of California than there would be to ship a human head.

FEYERICK: People are calling your client Dr. Frankenstein, a ghoul, a grave robber. What's your response?

GALLUCCI: It's a pioneer in the industry. He's making mankind better. Nobody's shown us that absolutely anything has been done inappropriately. These allegations, nobody's been charged with any crime.

FEYERICK: In New York, investigators have begun the grizzly task of digging up bodies from cemeteries like this one, to see for themselves if bones, limbs and other body parts are missing. The funeral home which handled Michael Bruno's body denied any ties to the alleged body snatching ring. Embalmer Joseph Mowselli and his attorney both denied our requests for an interview. Vito Bruno, meanwhile, is left with anger and doubt.

BRUNO: Sounds like a bad movie, doesn't it?

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's important to note that organ donation is a legitimate business that saves many lives. More than 27,000 last year. Tissue transplants improved the quality of life for about a million people each year. And medical schools depend on body donations to train thousands of new doctors annually. Well, it's a grisly thought, but we were wondering how many human body parts could still be worth transplanting after a corpse has left the hospital. Here's what we found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Critical organs such as hearts, lung, kidneys and livers are only taken from donors who are brain dead and whose hearts are still beating. But some tissues can be removed for transplant up to 24 hours after the hearts has stopped beating, as long as the body is kept cool. Twenty-two human tissues can be used for transplantation. Bone and bone marrow are in high demand. Bone marrow contains stem cells that can be used to aid in cancer treatments. Corneas are another valuable tissue transplant. About 40,000 corneal transplants are performed each year in the United States. Heart valves can be retrieved from the human body even hours after death. They can be used to replace diseased or damaged valves in heart patients. After being removed, heart valves can be frozen for several years, and still work efficiently.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now this is a story we're going to continue to follow. What's coming up tomorrow, we hope that you'll join us. We'll have a couple guests on this issue.

Up next, a Marine story guaranteed to move you. Chris Lazano (ph) has seven young reasons not to redeploy to Iraq, but he's choosing to leave his job and his family to serve his country for the third time. You're going to meet him, later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, after months of resistance, it looks like Senator John McCain and the White House have reached some sort of deal on the issue of torture.

Ed Henry, once again, joining us from the Hill. Ed, we talked about this at the top of the hour. Now I understand the senator is now heading to the White House.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's the new piece of information, John McCain indicating to me that in fact he does have a deal, but he doesn't want to get into details about it, saying he doesn't want to step on the message, step on the announcement. But confirming that, in fact, he's heading to the White House, and that he'll there be around 2:30 this afternoon with the president, is what we're expecting, and that there will be an announcement.

Now we're filling in the deit as from others. McCain will not tell us anything about the details, won't tell us even that there's officially a deal, just that he's going to the White House. That certainly indicates there is a deal.

But from other Republican officials we're being told after months of negotiations, as you said, and suggestions that maybe the White House would water down the McCain language, we're hearing from one Republican official that McCain got, quote, "everything," that he basically got the outright ban on torture, and very much the language that pass the Senate a couple months back, 90-9, an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Republican officials up here saying that that overwhelming bipartisan Senate vote is what pushed this along.

But also, last night, the House of Representatives, for the first time, again on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, going on record in favor of McCain's ban on torture. As one Republican official joked, it certainly didn't hurt -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And bottom line, just for those that are just tuning in, maybe you haven't been following the story, Ed, I mean, what this is centered around, is how foreign suspect in the war on terror will be treated with regard to interrogations by military, CIA, and civilian interrogators.

HENRY: That's right, so there's not cruel and inhumane treatment of these detainees, suspects and detainees, in the war on terror. This is a big victory for John McCain.

Also, an assist from John Murtha who we've heard from in the Iraq debate. It was his motion last night in the House of Representatives that helped pass, push this deal along for mccain.

And also, I think, it is a blow to the vice president the United States, frankly. Vice President Cheney had been on the Hill for months, lobbying hard against the McCain ban. He had gotten some help for sometime by Senate Republicans. Then again, the dam broke a few months back when the Senate went on record on a bipartisan basis. The last mode of resistance was the House Republican, Duncan Hunter, and other top Republicans. But now they're coming on board. Again, they're signing the last pieces of this. But all indications now, they finally have a deal -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, thanks so much.

Straight ahead, what drives you crazy on a given day? Cell phone, bad drivers, junk mail, co-workers? We just don't know. Well, we just don't really get mad, we get even, right?

Well, Jeanne Moos shows you how you can do that, in a very mature way, of course.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Fredricka Whitfield in the newsroom. Sounds like some football players got themselves into trouble, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a good way of putting it. Indeed, four NFL players are now in trouble with the law after a boat party went too far, apparently. Vikings players Daunte Culpepper, Bryant McKinnie, Fred Smoot and Moe Williams were charged with indecent conduct, disorderly conduct, lewd and lascivious conduct. Layman's terms, all allegedly disrobed and engaged in public sex acts during a cruise on Lake Minnetonka.

And in fact, the crew members of this crew of -- boats that you're looking at now, Al & Alma's Supper Club and Charter Cruises says that they identified 17 Vikings players, among about 90 people on the two boats. However, for now, four players are charged with these misdemeanors.

Meantime, the coach of the Vikings, Mike Tice, was careful with his words, saying, quote, "According to NFL rules and union contracts, there is a large difference between allegations and charges and convictions. So until and at any point there is a conviction of some type, if there is, I have no action to take and nothing to say." Those words, according to Vikings' coach Mike Tice.

Meantime, these charges just might worsen. It's a possibility that, according to reports, some of the women who were at this party, invited guests, were asked to come from Minnesota, which would then lead to potential federal charges if that is the case.

But for now, there are misdemeanor charges that these four NFL players are facing and we're expecting about an hour and a half from now a press conference to take place involving the Hennepin County Water Patrol, which is -- has jurisdiction of this Lake Minnetonka.

And, of course, when we get more information about these charges and what might be next for these NFL players, we'll be able to bring that along to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Fred, thanks so much.

Meanwhile, a 75-year-old Amish widower is both older and wiser today, thanks to a run-in with a prostitute and her boyfriend. Kimberly Webber and Patrick Landsdowne are now charged with six felony counts, including extortion. They allegedly told Jack Byler that his sexual encounters with Webber had been videotaped and would be posted on the Internet.

But they said they could get rid of the pictures for money. Well, the elderly man didn't want his Ohio church community to find out he sought out sex from prostitute. He paid the pair $67,000. Byler's son and daughter-in-law tipped off cops when the bank alerted them to large withdrawals from his account. The police eventually got Byler to spill the beans and set up a sting.

There's an old saying that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Well, for a tiny one-month-old New York City baby, luck also has a name. It's Felix Vasquez.

CNN's Daryn Kagan has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): It's a parent's horror story, trapped in a burning building and the only way to save your baby is to throw it out the window. Tracinda Foxe was living that nightmare Wednesday in her third floor Bronx apartment. She says she closed her eyes and threw her one-month-old child, Eric. On the ground, housing authority employee Felix Vasquez made the catch of a lifetime.

FELIX VASQUEZ, CAUGHT BABY: She was stressed out, she was panicking and she just said, "Catch my baby, catch my baby." I had caretakers under the window, but she didn't let it go straight, she just threw him. I jumped over the gate, caught the baby.

KAGAN: But after catching Eric, Vasquez realized quickly that the child was not out of danger. The baby wasn't breathing.

VASQUEZ: I just tilt the head back, gave him quick mouth to mouth, got the baby back to screaming and crying, and took him to the fire department and the ambulance took over.

KAGAN: Up on the third floor, Tracinda Fox was ready to jump out the window as well, when firefighters arrived to save her.

DENNIS MARTIN, NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER: The woman was out the window, she was trapped behind the child gates. We rushed in up to the third floor, up the stairs, came in, got in the apartment, which was really heavily charged, broke down the floor, so we got her, got a mask in there for her, managed to calm her down, shut the door.

KAGAN: Both mother and son were treated at a local hospital, and they've been released. As for Felix Vasquez, after playing the hero, he was back at work on Wednesday afternoon.

VASQUEZ: It's good to save a life. It feels real good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's worth noting that Vasquez was a teenage lifeguard. That's where he picked up and know-how to do resuscitation. He also happens to be the catcher for the housing authority baseball team. Preparation meeting opportunity indeed.

Well, traffic and weather together. That sounds so boring. But how about a little music with your morning drive headlines?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): A shovel, a shovel. Breaking Dallas ground ground for the first of the Trinity River Bridges to connect North Oaklette (ph) with downtown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS; And he's getting great ratings. That's just a sample of the singing news anchor in Dallas, Texas. He'll perform a few stories for us, coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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